Nice guys get naughty on '80s arena-rock holiday anthem

The Killers’ annual holiday single is becoming an impressively long-running tradition, but for their seventh straight installment, the Vegas arena rockers aren’t resting on their roasted chestnuts. After taking a Wild West turn in 2012 and synthily shouting out It’s a Wonderful Life the previous year, Brandon Flowers and his comrades in Christmas send Kris Kringle a bleak, sinister missive on “I Feel It in My Bones,” billed by Rolling Stone as a sequel to 2007’s similarly grimmer-than-usual “Don’t Shoot Me Santa.”

Fellow Las Vegas singer-songwriter Ryan Pardey lends creepy-Claus guest vocals, and at one point the song quotes Martha & the Vandellas’ Motown classic “Nowhere to Run,” but despite the occasional sleigh bells, the nervous guitar and bass interplay might have you wanting to break out into the chorus of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.” A title that just describe at leaast one of the song’s characters: When Flowers croons, “Once I was naughty but now I’m nice,” don’t believe him for a second. Saint Nicholas sure doesn’t.

Once again, the Killers’ Christmas single will benefit the AIDS charity (RED) when it comes out via iTunes on December 4. If history is any guide, we might also be able to expect a video under the tree. How could such a generous Santa be so malevolent?